


In The Dark

by Namarie



Category: Fringe
Genre: Alternate Universe, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-12-03
Updated: 2011-12-03
Packaged: 2017-10-26 19:54:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,966
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/287244
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Namarie/pseuds/Namarie
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A discovery, a kidnapping, an escape, and a reunion.</p>
            </blockquote>





	In The Dark

**Author's Note:**

> This is AU - by which I mean it diverges from canon, not that it takes place in the alternate universe. It's set in later season 3, but there are no specific spoilers.
> 
> Thanks to Mack_the_Spoon for her beta.

~

Somehow, the fact that the last few months have been so quiet does not prepare Olivia for how quickly everything changes.

She has almost reached the front steps of the house. Her thoughts are in turmoil as she considers the magnitude of what she might discover when she uses what she has just purchased. Then she thinks she hears something behind her. Nothing is visible when she turns around; the street out front is mostly empty.

Shrugging it off, Olivia begins to climb the stairs. She is halted again by what sounds like a footstep behind her – and this time, when she turns around, there's a masked figure standing right there.

“Hey!” She reaches for her gun immediately, but the man is too fast for her. In an instant, he has grabbed her and, despite her struggles and the elbow that she drives into his ribcage, he manages to cover her mouth and nose with a cloth. It's chloroform-soaked, apparently, since she blacks out seconds later.

Olivia is dragged out of unconsciousness some time later by the sound of conversation taking place very near her. She tries to open her eyes, but she's still so groggy. It feels like she's being moved, maybe on a gurney.

“--confirm it first.”

“It's not too early? There's a question of safety...”

“We've received the go-ahead, and the doctors have--”

Everything fades out again. Olivia only awakens again when she feels something cold on her stomach. She moans, once more trying to open her eyes. Then she gasps as she feels the pressure and then pain of a needle entering the same spot on her stomach. She manages to open her eyes.

“She's awake,” a voice near her head says.

“Make sure she's immobilized,” another voice replies.

Instantly, there are hands pushing down on her shoulders. There's a bright light overhead that makes it impossible for Olivia to see the faces of the figures bending over her, but she fights against them all the same. There is a corresponding immediate increase in the pain in her stomach, and she cries out.

“Okay, put her back under,” the second voice says again, sounding irritated and alarmed. “She's going to cause serious damage.”

Olivia tries to take a deep breath. She turns to the figure who is nearest to her and gasps out, “Wait! Please ... what are you doing to me?”

There is no reply, other than a feeling of heaviness settling over her seconds later. As much as she fights to stay awake, she can't prevent her vision from darkening to black.

~

When Olivia's phone goes to voice mail for the third time, Peter can no longer ignore his building panic. He leaves Astrid at the lab, telling her to call right away if she hears from or sees Olivia, and then he calls Broyles as he heads for his car.

“What is it, Peter?” Broyles asks after he takes the call.

“It--” Peter sighs. “It's probably nothing, but I've been trying to reach Olivia and she isn't answering. Astrid and Walter haven't heard anything from her since this morning.” Walter has been at Massive Dynamic all day, and he has assured Peter that Olivia hasn't dropped by.

“She's not at home?”

“I'm on my way to check right now,” Peter says, turning the key in the ignition.

Broyles is silent for a moment. “Let me know what you find,” he says. “I'm sure it's just that she forgot to charge her phone – but I appreciate you keeping me in the loop, regardless.”

The sight that greets Peter upon getting out of his car at home makes his heart plummet: Olivia's car is parked where it should be, but the house is dark. There's a plastic grocery bag spilled on the front steps. A closer look reveals her cell phone at the bottom of the stairs, as well.

“Olivia?” Peter calls, running up to the door. It's locked. He goes inside, calls her name several times as he moves from room to room, but the house is dark and silent. She's not here.

Now starting to feel sick, Peter goes out to the front steps again. He has to call Broyles, he knows. Even if that means acknowledging the fact that something has happened to Olivia.

Sinking down onto the top step, Peter takes out his phone again. His eyes are drawn to the bag Olivia must have dropped on her way inside ... and then he sees it. The contents of the bag include shampoo, disposable razor blades, and a box of pregnancy tests.

Hand shaking, Peter calls Broyles again. He clears his throat. When Broyles answers, he says without preamble, “She's gone. There's signs of a struggle. I think she's been taken.”

“I'm getting a team together now,” Broyles replies. “We'll find her, Peter.”

Peter hangs up. _God, this can't be happening._ He looks again at the box Olivia had bought. What if she's ... _She has to be all right. She has to._

~

Olivia has no idea how much time has passed when she next wakes up. Her stomach is still sore at the injection site, which suggests it hasn't been too long – but wherever she is, it's almost completely dark and she seems to be alone, so she has no other reference points. As her mind finally becomes less drug-muddled, Olivia discovers that she's lying on a cot, wearing something like a hospital gown. The cot is against a concrete wall, and the air around her is still.

It's almost uncomfortably warm, but despite this, Olivia shivers as she sits up. This is all reminding her a little too much of her time at the hands of Walternate's scientists after she regained her memories Over There. This time, though, her abductors seem to be after something else.

She raises a hand to her abdomen, her fear increasing. She herself had only begun to suspect that she might be pregnant. Could whoever has taken her know before she did? She doesn't even want to consider how that could be possible – or what they could want with her and this child, if it does exist.

When Olivia goes to stand up, a wave of dizziness overtakes her, and she has to sit down again quickly and lean her back against the wall. She closes her eyes and takes several deep breaths.

Eventually, it passes. She opens her eyes and notes that she seems to be adjusting to the darkness of her cell. She can now see that it's about twice as large as the cell Walternate had kept her in, with nothing else in it but a metal door across from her with a small window at the top. There is no handle on the inside of the door.

Olivia decides it's worth a look, so she takes another deep breath and then attempts to stand up again – more slowly, this time. Her efforts are rewarded, though she sways a little at first. Ignoring the relative chill of the floor on her bare feet, she crosses the cell to peer out the window.

Not surprisingly, there is not much to see. It appears that she's being held at the end of a dimly-lit hallway. The walls are the same dull gray as the inside of her cell. There seems to be at least one other door in this hall, and another door at the very end. It's too dark to discern any other details.

As another thought strikes her, Olivia steps back from the door and looks up. There it is, on the ceiling in the opposite corner from her bed: a surveillance camera. Although this is also not a surprising discovery, it adds another layer to her feelings of dismay. Still, she stands up straight and faces the camera head on. “What do you want? Why are you holding me prisoner?” she demands.

The sudden sound of her voice in the silence almost startles her. She waits in front of the camera for what seems like a long time, but there is no noticeable response of any kind.

Olivia is about to return to her bed when she hears what sounds like the door at the other end of the hall opening and shutting. Quickly, she positions herself near her cell's door, in front of the window. She wishes for something she could use as a weapon. Of course any element of surprise she might have would be spoiled by the camera above her.

Footsteps approach her door. The man's face, when it appears in the window, is too shadowed for Olivia to be able to see much, but she has no trouble hearing him. “You are going to be moved to another room. Please don't resist or try to escape, Agent Dunham. We don't wish to cause you or your child any harm.”

Olivia takes a step back. _My child_ ... So she is pregnant? Or are they lying out of some attempt to get her to be more compliant? “You say you don't want to hurt me,” she says. _Attempt to establish meaningful communication._ “So what do you want with me? Why are you holding me prisoner?”

The man sighs. “We are insuring your safety and health, as well as that of your child,” he answers, in a tone that suggests she's inconveniencing him by making him explain at all.

“I don't understand,” she's about to say, but the door is unlocked and thrown open before she can do so. Almost involuntarily, she takes another step back. The two orderlies accompanying the man who had spoken (who's wearing a doctor's lab coat) must take this as a sign that she's planning to resist, because they instantly grab her by her arms and slam her against the wall of the cell.

Olivia fights back, ignoring the shouts from the man in the lab coat for everyone to calm down. She manages to kick and struggle her way free from one of the men holding her, but before she can get away from the other guy, the doctor finally manages to get through to his hired goons and his captive with a bellowed, “STOP!”

Jerking her arm out of the other guy's grip, Olivia glares at him. He doesn't seem to react, although she notes that he's breathing heavily. She tries to recover her breath as well. She aches all over, including at the site of the injection. Distracted by this pain in particular, Olivia isn't aware of the doctor's approach until he's within inches of her. Then she looks up and sees the syringe in his hand. “No!”

The combined efforts of the orderlies and the doctor himself overwhelm her renewed efforts to break free, and as the sedative hits her bloodstream, the world around her fades away again.

~

Peter reaches for the tumbler on the coffee table and drains the last of his drink. He sighs, leaning back against the couch. For the hundredth time, he tries to think of some clue he might have missed that will lead to finding Olivia safely.

“Peter.”

Peter looks up to see Walter standing in the entrance to the living room. His worry and care are obvious even in the poor light of the single lamp. Peter has a pretty good idea of what his father is going to say, but he waits for him to speak anyway.

“Son, you can't do this to yourself,” Walter says gently. “How long has it been since you've slept?”

Peter shakes his head. “I don't know.” How long has it been since Olivia was kidnapped? “I note that you're not asleep, either.”

“Because I'm worried about you!”

“Worried about me?” Peter stares at him. “I'm not the one who's been missing for days, with no leads--”

“Well, of course I'm worried about Olivia, too!” Walter interrupts. “But you're here in front of me, tearing yourself up with guilt and thinking about what you could have done differently. This is not a path you want to start following.” He steps closer. “I know this from personal experience, Peter.”

Setting down his empty glass, Peter nods once. He's so tired, emotionally and physically drained, but he can't sleep. “I get that. But what else am I supposed to do, Walter? She's out there somewhere, having God knows what done to her, and...” He swallows. There's also the whole possibility that she might be pregnant with his child – a possibility he has kept to himself, that adds an extra layer of pain to his anxiety about her. “Do you expect me to be able to stop thinking about her?”

Walter sits down next to him. “No, no, of course not.” The lamp's light reveals his father's own pain at the thought of what Olivia might be enduring. “But if there is any way for you to convince yourself not to dwell on your fears and anxieties so much, please try to find it. After all,” he smiles sadly, “you'll need your strength when you resume your search for her tomorrow.”

Peter nods again, with a bitter smile of his own. He knows Walter isn't really happy about his daily attempts to track down anyone who might know anything about what happened to Olivia, but he also knows Walter won't try to stop him, either. In return for his understanding, Peter does his best to keep in touch with his father while he's out searching ... and if he doesn't always avoid risky situations, well, Walter doesn't need to hear about them. He's managed to stay out of serious trouble so far.

“Do you want some tea, or something else to help calm you?” Walter asks after a moment. “I have several recipes of my own that you could--”

“No, thank you, Walter,” Peter says. He stands up and rubs a hand across his face. “I think I'll try my luck just lying down for a while.”

“All right.” Walter watches him leave, and then calls after him, “Goodnight, son.”

“Goodnight.”

Maybe he is at least somewhat successful at getting himself to think about something else, or maybe he's just too exhausted to stay awake any longer. Regardless of the cause, Peter does find himself drifting off only a few minutes after he's gone to bed. His dreams, however, are anything but restful, as his mind translates his fears about Olivia into terrifying images of what could be happening to her.

~

Olivia has no idea how long she's been here – wherever and whatever 'here' is. There is no way for her to keep track of time. She knows that she should be trying to get out, to get away, but it's so hard for her to think, much less move. So she never progresses beyond that knowledge.

There's something else important that's hovering at the edge of her memory. It's something she had just found out before-- before she ended up wherever she is now. It has to do with ... But whatever it is, it continually eludes her foggy memory.

She drifts in her sea of confusion for some indefinable length of time. Occasionally, she thinks she hears something nearby, but it's all but impossible for her to focus on it.

Suddenly, she manages to grab onto one of these important memories, and it shakes her to awareness. _Peter._ Peter has to be wondering where she is. He's probably close to frantic, in fact. Especially since...

Olivia is jolted by another returning memory: she is pregnant, or at very least there is a high likelihood that she is. People are holding her captive. They're doing something to her, and to her baby as well. She's at their mercy right now.

At this realization, panic floods through her. What are they doing to her at this very moment? _Why can't I move? I have to get out of here. Peter!_

Her fear and anguish build until she can't contain them – and then the feeling escapes out of her in a rush of white-hot energy that flashes outward in all directions. There is a shattering sound, and suddenly Olivia is freed from whatever has been holding her. Just as suddenly, she's falling off something metal onto the ground. It's not a long fall; she manages to catch herself well enough now that she's able to see, hear, and move freely.

Blinking rapidly, Olivia coughs and pulls herself to her feet, staggering a little as she does so. She seems to be standing in the splintered remnants of some kind of glass and metal case. There are wires and thin tubes among the shards, twisted and burnt by the heat of the fire raging all around her. There are also several pools of some unknown liquid. These are evaporating even as she watches. She herself is not burnt, although she notes in a detached way that her throat is raw and that she feels like she has several cuts on her body. She also feels like she's not wearing a stitch of clothing – a suspicion that is confirmed when she looks down at herself.

Wrapping her arms around her body, Olivia looks for a way out of this room. There is a door across from her, and thankfully the flames are now dying down since there is little else in the room to provide fuel.

As carefully as she can, Olivia picks her way through the scorched room to the door. _I have to get out and find Peter,_ she tells herself. Keeping focused on this goal is the only way she's keeping the terror at bay for the moment.

There is an alarm sounding, she realizes, and once again she remembers with terrible clarity her desperate attempts to escape the facility at Liberty Island. But when she looks out the window into the hallway, she sees with a tiny bit of relief that it's just a fire alarm.

 _Yeah, just a fire alarm,_ she says to herself sarcastically. _Just a fire alarm set off by the firestorm you unleashed *with your mind,* while trying to escape from having who knows what done to you._

Shaking off these less-than-useful thoughts, Olivia takes a deep breath and pulls open the door. The air in the hallway is much cooler. She's grateful to whoever left their lab coat on the gurney that is a few yards away. It's not really adequate covering, but it's much better than nothing.

As she is trying to decide which direction to go, Olivia hears the sound of running footsteps over the continued wail of the fire alarm. She tries to make a break for the door to her right at the end of the hall (she thinks she sees stairs leading up behind it), but within a minute she's surrounded by armed, uniformed men coming from either side.

Olivia backs up against the wall. _This can't be happening._ She stares at the faces of the men around her as they order her to surrender, looking desperately for anything she could use to break through their ranks. Then she notices something interesting: fear. Almost every single one of the dozen or so guards looks afraid of her.

 _Oh, God._ The solution is obvious. She has to use her ability again – her wildly unpredictable and clearly quite dangerous ability. If Peter were here, she thinks, it would be easier for her to imagine this working. But of course, if Peter were here, a lot of things would be different.

Olivia takes a deep breath, closes her eyes, and concentrates, as best as she can with multiple armed guards yelling at her to surrender. Seconds later, the yelled orders change to cries of fear. She opens her eyes to see a path cleared in both directions. The men are being held against the opposite wall by an invisible force: her.

Olivia walks up to the nearest guard, trying not to show too much of her surprise at the success of her maneuver. His eyes widen and he tries even harder to break her hold. He doesn't succeed.

“Which direction gets me out of here?” she demands.

The man flinches, as if he's expecting an outright attack. When nothing else happens, he seems to debate for a moment. He clears his throat. “Uh, the-- the door to your right. Go up the stairs and then take a left.”

“Okay." Olivia starts toward the door. She turns back when she reaches it, meeting the eyes of a few more of the guards. "I think you should go ahead and let me leave."

~

Peter is on his way back to his car after running down yet another fruitless lead when his phone rings. It's Broyles. Peter frowns and considers not answering, since he's pretty sure the agent is just calling either to inform him of the FBI's continued lack of success at finding Olivia, or to tell him again that it would really be safer for him not to try searching by himself.

Sighing, Peter decides he might as well answer, anyway. “This is Peter.”

“Peter, I think we have something,” Broyles says. “We've gotten reports of an incident at an abandoned hospital outside the city. There's been an unusually high level of activity at the site in recent days, and fifteen minutes ago, the fire department got an automatic alert – the fire alarm was set off inside. Apparently they found evidence of a very recent, very powerful fire in one room, but the building itself isn't burning.”

Peter connects the dots, and all but sprints the rest of the way to his car. “Anything else found at the scene? Any evidence that she was there?”

“The fire department called in the police when they found a room that contained evidence of someone being held captive,” Broyles answers. “No one is inside at the moment. We haven't had a chance to analyze the trace evidence yet, but it looks like this could be it.”

“Where's the hospital?”

Broyles gives him the address, and adds, “I'm on my way there right now, and so are your father and Agent Farnsworth.”

“I'll meet you there.” Peter hangs up, already having pulled out into the flow of traffic.

Every minute it takes him to get to the abandoned hospital is a minute Peter begrudges. If Olivia was there, he knows, and has now been moved or has escaped, she could still be in the vicinity. He's so focused on this goal as he nears the address that he almost doesn't notice the odd sensation at the edge of his consciousness until it becomes stronger. As he drives past an alley that's only a few blocks from his destination, the feeling intensifies and then fades. It's like he's connected or drawn to something there – like he's being pulled in that direction ... by someone?

Peter doesn't have to think about it long before pulling over. This can't be a coincidence, can it?

On foot, he hurries back toward the alley. The tug of the sensation grows stronger with each step. It feels familiar and yet totally bizarre. Just as it's getting stronger than it has been yet, he enters the alley and sees a figure curled on the ground next to a dumpster. Peter forgets everything else to run to her. “Olivia!”

The woman – it is Olivia, it couldn't be anyone else – doesn't move. Her eyes are closed. Other than spots of high color on her cheeks, she is deathly pale. Peter is terrified by this, as well as the daubs of dried blood near her hairline. He crouches down next to her, reaching out a hand to push a lock of her tangled hair off her face. This action causes two nearly simultaneous reactions.

First, Peter is startled by the very noticeable heat radiating from Olivia's face. He pulls his hand back slightly. Half a second later, Olivia's eyes fly open, she gasps in obvious panic, and then she grabs Peter's arm at the wrist. Even through his shirtsleeve, he can feel the heat of her hand start to burn him, and it's making her death grip on his arm even more painful.

“Olivia! Olivia, it's me, I'm here, it's all right,” he tells her, trying to catch her wild gaze with his own. “You're okay.”

Slowly, Olivia relaxes her hold on his arm and then lets go. “Peter?” she whispers.

“Yeah, it's me,” he repeats. Very gently, he strokes her hair off her face, making sure not to come into direct contact with her skin.

“Oh, Peter!” She reaches toward him again, but then drops her hand back down. “I guess I should be careful...” She trails off, and her eyes start to slip shut. “I'm so glad you found me.”

“Me, too,” Peter says. He longs to hold her and comfort her; he needs the reassurance as much as she does. “Can you try to stay awake, Olivia? I'm going to call Broyles and tell him where we are. Then we can get you to a doctor and make sure you're all right, okay?”

Olivia opens her eyes again. “Okay. But they'll have to wait until I cool down,” she says, sounding like the words are only coming with great effort. Peter is pretty sure he's never seen her this exhausted. Her focus sharpens suddenly. “Did-- did I hurt you, Peter? Oh my God, I am so sorry--”

Peter smiles. “Hey, it's all right. I always knew you were hot.” He's sure the burn is not serious at all.

Olivia gives him a wry thank you.

She is silent while Peter pulls out his cell phone and calls Broyles, although her gaze hardly leaves his. Peter acknowledges Broyles' promise that help is on the way, thanks him for passing the news on to Walter and Astrid, and hangs up. Then he moves to sit down next to Olivia as they both wait.

“How are you feeling?” Peter asks after a brief period of silence. “I mean, I don't know what's been happening to you, but I'm guessing it wasn't anything good.”

Olivia sighs. “I think I'm mostly okay. Tired, but okay.” Then her eyes widen. “Oh, Peter, I have some news to tell you – but I don't know if I hurt it when I started the fire.”

The look of anguish on her face cuts Peter to the heart. When she puts a hand to her belly, his understanding dawns, and he tells her, “We'll figure it out. Let's just wait until we get you to a hospital before we worry too much, okay?”

She nods, although her expression is still anxious.

The approaching sirens start getting louder. Peter looks in the direction they're coming from and then back at Olivia. He reaches for her hand. When she raises her eyebrows, he just shrugs and says, “We're going to have to test and see if you've cooled down soon enough. Why not now?”

“I don't want to hurt you,” Olivia counters, pulling herself further away from him.

“I have good reflexes,” Peter points out. “I'll be fine.” He puts out his hand again, and reluctantly, she takes it. Her skin is still very warm, but not painfully so. With his help, Olivia is on her feet when Broyles and the others arrive, although she has to lean on Peter to remain that way. He doesn't mind in the least this added reason to keep his arm around her.

“Agent Dunham,” Broyles says, looking more than a little concerned as he gets out of the SUV, “the ambulance is on the way.”

Olivia nods. Her gaze moves to Walter and Astrid, who are both hurrying out of Astrid's car. Walter, Peter notices, is carrying a thermos, of all things. “Olivia!” he says, holding it out as he comes up to them. “Thank God. Are you all right?”

“I think so, for the most part,” Olivia answers, still sounding utterly exhausted. Somehow she manages a smile, though, and then she gestures at the thermos. “What's that, Walter?”

“Oh, it's just ice water,” Walter says. “I-- I thought if you'd had another pyrokinetic episode, you might be very thirsty, not to mention overheated. I put it in the thermos to keep it as cold as possible.”

She looks touched. “Thank you. That does sound good.”

With Peter's help, they make their way to the SUV, where Olivia sits down in the back. “This is just water, right, Walter?” Peter asks, after Olivia has poured herself a cup. “Nothing else added to make it more 'interesting'?”

“Of course not,” Walter retorts, sounding offended. “Astrid watched me prepare the thermos, didn't you, dear?”

Astrid nods and pats Walter on the arm. “Yep. I can confirm that there's nothing in it but water and ice. Go for it, Olivia.”

“Thanks.” Olivia gives them all a small smile before taking a drink.

“How about we all give Olivia a couple of seconds to relax?” Peter suggests, meeting the eyes of the rest of her audience. He doesn't figure Olivia really wants to be watched like a hawk, even by her friends, while she does something so mundane as drink some water. Olivia looks at him, her expression mingling gratitude and what might be anxiety. He assures her, “We'll be right over here.”

They withdraw a short distance. Broyles, who has been on his cell phone, rejoins the group. “Has she said anything about the people who took her?”

“No.” Peter shakes his head. “But she's obviously been through a lot. It took her a few seconds to calm down enough to recognize me when I found her.”

“How did you know where she was, Peter?” Walter asks.

“It's a little hard to explain,” he answers with a shrug. “Luck had a lot to do with it, I think.”

Walter looks curious, but he doesn't push the issue. Before they can continue their conversation, the ambulance arrives. Peter hurries back to Olivia, who is just finishing another cupful of water. “Do you want me to go with you in the back of the ambulance?” he asks her.

“Would you?” She puts the lid back on the thermos, glancing at him for a moment before looking away. “I don't think I'm ready to be alone with medical professionals just yet.”

Peter can't help wondering at that statement, as well as connecting it with the fact that she seems to be wearing nothing but a (fortunately fairly long) lab coat. He doesn't have time to dwell on the unsettling implications, though, since the EMTs have arrived. They have no problem with him riding with Olivia to the hospital.

“We'll meet you at the hospital, Olivia,” Astrid promises, as the paramedics prepare to lift her stretcher into the back of the vehicle.

“And we have some leads to investigate as far as who was behind this,” Broyles adds. “We will figure it out, but your job right now is to recover.”

Olivia nods and thanks them both. Peter climbs up ahead of her into the ambulance, and as soon as the EMTs have her situated securely, he takes her hand. It's no warmer than it should be. “You okay?”

“Yeah.” She sighs. “Thanks for finding me, Peter.”

The two paramedics are clearly getting ready to follow their charge into the ambulance, so Peter stands to move out of the way. “You're welcome,” he tells her, with his first real smile since she went missing.

~

Olivia folds her hands on her stomach, looking up at the door to her hospital room for at least the tenth time in the last five minutes. Dr. Miller had told her this morning that the ultrasound would be after breakfast, and she's already had her morning meal – although she was so anxious that she wasn't able to bring herself to eat much of it. Peter had tried to encourage her to eat, but he hasn't seemed much less nervous himself, she thinks.

Her pregnancy has already been confirmed by blood tests, and Olivia hadn't been able to hold back tears of relief yesterday when a fetal heart monitor had proven that the baby was alive. She'd been so terrified that in her uncontrolled use of her abilities, she'd managed to harm or even kill it. That fear has lessened a great deal, but they still don't know if it's healthy – just that it's alive. Even if the fire incident hasn't caused the baby any harm, they still don't know what was done to her or to the child while she was in captivity. (CSU is still combing the abandoned hospital where she'd been held for clues, and she's given a statement about what she can remember. It's not much, but it's something.)

Neither Walter nor Astrid know about her pregnancy yet. They had both only lingered at the hospital last night for a short visit before leaving, although Walter had promised Olivia several times that he would personally examine all the evidence gathered from the abandoned hospital to see what he might be able to discover. Thinking about what he could find doesn't help her stay calm.

Peter has been mostly silent this morning, though he has told her that he won't go anywhere unless she wants him to leave. Olivia appreciates this. She also thinks that if she weren't so worried about what this ultrasound might find, she'd be amused and touched by watching him be so nervous. It's not a state in which she's really ever seen him.

Her eyes move from the door to where he's sitting, in a chair to her right. She can see the tension in him, in his posture and the slight frown on his face. But when he catches her eye, he smiles. “I can't just be imagining it, can I? Time has to have actually slowed down, at least in this room.”

“I'd back up that eyewitness report,” Olivia agrees. She sighs and leans back slightly against her pillows. Time does seem to be behaving strangely. Thirteen weeks – that was how far along Dr. Miller had estimated her pregnancy is after yesterday's tests. She still has a hard time believing that she'd managed to not notice or ignore the signs for so long before she was taken. It's not much easier to grasp the fact that she was missing for almost two of those thirteen weeks.

Peter clears his throat. “Olivia, I want to tell you something.”

“What is it?” Though he's been nothing but supportive so far, she can't help the flash of worry that this is all too much for him to deal with at once, or that he secretly regrets or resents being put in this situation.

“I just want you to know that, no matter what the ultrasound finds, and even though this might not have happened the way both of us wanted,” he says, “I want to be here. And I think this kid is going to be pretty lucky to have the parents he or she has.”

It takes a second for Olivia to absorb his words, but then she ducks her head with a smile. “I think so, too,” she tells him. She hasn't had a lot of time to imagine it yet, but she knows Peter will be a wonderful dad.

Peter is just about to continue when the door to the room opens. A nurse enters, pushing a wheelchair in front of her. She informs Olivia that the ultrasound technician is ready for her, and that Dr. Miller will be there to talk her through it as well. “You ready to go, sweetheart?”

Olivia exchanges an amused glance with Peter at the endearment, but she just says yes and scoots to the edge of her bed.

It doesn't take long for the ultrasound technician to get everything set up once they reach the room. Olivia's anxiety starts increasing yet again. As she lies down on the bed, she takes a deep breath, reaching for Peter's hand. Whatever they find, she reminds herself, she's not alone in this.

“All right, Agent Dunham, just relax as much as you can,” the technician says. “This will be a little cold, but it shouldn't be too uncomfortable for you.”

“Okay.” She looks at Peter for a moment, and then nods for the technician to get started.

It takes a few seconds, but as the technician passes the wand along her abdomen, a blurry image appears on the screen. Olivia holds more tightly to Peter's hand.

“Now, we're still a few weeks away from being able to determine the sex,” Dr. Miller says, “but we can get a more accurate measurement of your baby's age by what we see here.” She leans closer to the screen to examine the picture. “I'll do some more precise measurement later, but I'd say my initial estimate of thirteen weeks looks to be correct.”

“And-- and everything looks all right?” Olivia asks. She can see what looks like the baby's head, but to her untrained eye, it's hard to tell what else can be revealed by the image.

Dr. Miller is still looking closely at the screen. “It's a little early to be able to say with complete certainty, but--” she turns to face the parents, “--I will say that from what I can see, everything looks just the way it's supposed to look. No reasons to be concerned.”

Olivia closes her eyes. _Thank God._ It's not a definite all clear, but she'll take what she can get right now.

“Oh my God.” Peter's exclamation makes her open her eyes quickly. Then she sees the amazement and joy on his face as he stares at the screen. “Look, Olivia – he's moving!”

Olivia follows his gaze in time to see what has to be their baby's hand moving near his or her face. She watches in astonished silence. For the first time, she starts to consider the fact that this baby is a reality, a new life that is going to change her and Peter's lives forever. She's sure her smile is at least as wide as Peter's right now.

“It's a pretty amazing thing, isn't it?” Dr. Miller says with a knowing grin. “I've seen it many, many times, and it doesn't get any less awe-inspiring.”

The doctor allows them a few more minutes to watch, and then apologetically informs them that there's another patient waiting. “A nurse will take you back to your room, and I'll be in to give you one more checkup as soon as I can.” She glances at Peter and then focuses on Olivia again. “I don't think you'll be needing to stay here for long after I see you again – but I'd be happy to recommend a good doctor for the duration of your pregnancy, if you don't already have one in mind.”

“Thank you,” Olivia says sincerely. “I'd appreciate that.” Other than her sister, she doesn't have a lot of close female friends with whom she could discuss that type of thing, and Dr. Miller seems to be both competent and understanding.

Olivia decides to forgo the wheelchair on the way back to her room; it's not a long trip, and she needs to see how well she's recovering. Peter doesn't protest her decision, but she can tell he's glad when her nurse tells them she'll walk with them in case they need any help.

Although she still feels weaker than normal, Olivia makes it back to her room without incident. Settling back onto her bed, Olivia recalls how she'd felt after her first return from the other universe – how shattered she'd been, and how helpless she'd felt. She supposes there's more than a small chance that her abductors will try to get to her while she's here, like the shapeshifter had done. But a lot of things have changed in her life since that time. She has a family to protect, and Peter to help her protect them.

“Hey.”

She blinks, pulling her mind away from those thoughts to Peter's inquisitive face. “Hmm?”

“You were looking very serious just then,” he says. “Everything okay?”

Olivia considers for a moment. She reaches out to take his hand again. “Yeah. I think I might go further, even, and say everything is very good.”

“Good.” Peter smiles again, his eyes alight. “Because I was just thinking: I know we still have a lot of stuff to deal with, and I know whoever took you is still out there – but this whole idea that we're going to have a kid is still pretty cool.”

She has to laugh as she nods. That may not be the way she would have chosen to say it, but she most definitely agrees with the sentiment. Then a thought occurs to her. “I guess I should probably tell Rachel, shouldn't I?”

“Probably,” Peter says. His smile turns wry. “And Walter will be extremely effusive in his congratulations to both of us, I'm sure. He's been dropping hints about grandchildren for a while now.”

Olivia looks at him in mock-surprise. “Now, that just doesn't sound like Walter at all.” She is actually a little surprised that she hasn't been on the receiving end of any of these hints, herself, but she guesses it's pure chance that she's avoided them. Walter certainly isn't shy of letting her know how happy he is that she and his son are together.

“I know. He's usually so subtle,” Peter says, with that mixture of affection and annoyance that so often colors his tone when he speaks about his father.

Olivia thinks about Walter as a grandfather, and about Rachel and Ella as aunt and cousin. She imagines gatherings where Astrid is keeping a watchful eye on both the baby and Walter, helping keep them both out of mischief. The images make her smile again. It won't be a conventional family, perhaps, but she thinks she doesn't mind that fact.

~

**Author's Note:**

> Author's Note 2: If you notice some similarities between Olivia's experience and the ordeal Fauxlivia went through in “Bloodline,” that is, in fact, intentional. I thought if our Olivia ever did have a kid with Peter, the laws of the universe(s) might mean that there would be parallels in what she and her alternate went through ... though not necessarily for the same reasons. [/mysterious]


End file.
